India is a hot and humid country where temperature can rise up to 48 degree celsius in the peak days of Summers.
Homemakers, mostly women, know the pain of standing in front of a gas stove while cooking.
Unbearable Heat, Unbearable Humidity.
Most living rooms have air conditioners in it but what about the kitchen?
We know that we cannot use a ceiling fan in our kitchen as it hinders the gas flame further hindering the cooking process.
Can We Use Air Conditioner in Kitchen?
Yes, you can use an air conditioner in your kitchen to cool it provided that you use a kitchen chimney above the stove and position the AC far away from the cooking stove.
Why?
Cooking must be done in an open space or ventilated room.
Fumes, smoke, grease and other gases like carbon monoxide emit from cooking. These particles must be expelled outside.
Smoke and grease can stick on your ceiling making it blackish. Hazardous gases like carbon monoxide can build up in a closed room and are harmful for us.
This is a paradox because we need open windows while cooking but the use of AC needs a closed room.
That is why you need a kitchen chimney. It will suck the fumes, smoke emitting from cooking and expel it out even if the room is closed.
Then only you can use AC inside a kitchen room.
Fun Fact: Indian way of cooking contains too much oil and spices that further produces high amounts of smoke and grease.
Things to take care if using AC in Kitchen
1. Use of Chimney Must
An air conditioner sucks the room air and returns it back as cool air.
Cooking produces smoke and grease.
This will clog the filters, coils, and internal components.
Your AC will degrade faster.
The chimney can also reduce humidity and heat generated from cooking along with sucking the smoke and fumes.
You can check out these chimneys online
- GLEN auto-clean kitchen chimney (impressive features)
- INALSA chimney (budget-friendly)
2. Don’t Place the AC unit above the gas stove.
If AC is placed straight above the gas stove its vents will throw air on the gas flame which will hinder the cooking.
AC air being cooler will reduce the heat generated from cooking, ultimately affecting the time to cook.
3. Place the AC unit away from the gas stove
It’s best to place the AC unit far away from the gas stove or at the opposite end of the room.
This prevents the fumes from entering the AC and its cool air will distribute better in the room rather than reducing the heat of cooking.
Which AC is suitable for my kitchen?
You can use all types of room air conditioners like window, split, and portable. Often our gas stove is near the window so using window AC will be not be a good idea, then we are left with split and portable AC .
It’s best to use an undersized AC for the kitchen and use the AC on a higher temperature like 26-28 degree celsius.
As with cooler temperatures the cooking process will become hard and slower.
Also heat generated from cooking affects the load and power consumption of your AC.
Recommended AC for kitchen
- Lloyd Split AC 2023 model (Budget Friendly)
- BlueStar Portable AC (Move anywhere, no need to drill holes)
What are some other cooling solutions for kitchen
There are many reasons why people will not install an air conditioner in a kitchen like
- Air Conditioners are expensive
- Kitchen is connected to some other room or hall and so there is no door to seal it.
- Kitchen is too small to place AC
That is why I have listed some cooling options below which can provide you relief to some extent.
1) Use Exhaust Fan
I know it will not cool the room but can reduce the humidity and give us comfort by increasing the evaporation of sweat from our body.
With evaporation of sweat our body cools down.
Exhaust Fan can be fixed on the window.
Recommended Exhaust Fan (Ideal for small kitchen).
2) Use Air Cooler or Fan with Spot Cooling
I know that we cannot use a ceiling fan in a kitchen. It will extinguish the gas flame.
But you can use an air cooler with spot cooling or a small table fan.
Normal room cooler or desert cooler cannot be used here. Only cooler with spot cooling.
Air coolers which have blower type fan can do spot cooling. This means the airflow will be concentrated and directed only towards you without disturbing the gas flame.
Or you can use a small table Fan whose air flow delivery will be small. You can position it such that the air comes to you only without affecting the gas flame.
3) Use Kitchen Table Fan
Crompton has designed a unique table fan especially for use in Kitchen.
Its fan is of blower type and provides spot cooling. It can also be fixed on the wall far above so that it can provide air directly on your face.
It does not affects the gas flame.
You can check this product on Amazon.
4) Use Wearable Neckband Fan
You can take this product as a joke.
But I find it somewhat handy and it is also very cheap.
Face and forehead is the main area where sweat rolls over while sweating.
This is true for cooking.
Mostly we are cleaning our face again and again due to sweat. This fan which is placed on our neck throws air on our face and gives the feeling of cool breeze.
Check the Hand Free Neck Fan here.
